First HDRBT done!

In my way home.from the Florida Hospital had my first treatment. It went super smooth and nearly pain free. After they inserted the catheters in prostate and ureretha there was pressure and occasionally stab of.discomfort. All.went perfect. How I get to get some.food. Round two in two weeks. The hospital staff were amazing!

Great.

You are half-baked

Congrats Dennis....a little more ‘baking’ and you’ll finally be a veteran!

Fantastic news. Half way home and the 2nd time around should be a breeze for you now knowing what to expect. Safe travels on your return trip home!

Sponge

Thanks All. Jim, it was a smooth day, all the professions were attentive and caring. For prep, I had to do two enemas, and two showers with surgical soap. No eating from noon the day before and no drinking after midnight. I arrived at 6 am and was in prep room by 630. They did vitals and IV. The anesthesiologist came and talked about sedation.

The first step in the procedure was to insert the catheters in the prostate, 15 of them. And a urinary catheter for the day. This was done under general anesthesia. I also had an MRI in this process but don't remember it. This was to ensure the caths were correctly placed. They used a rectal ultrasound to place the caths. I then woke up and brought to the radiation lab where they inserted tubes into catheters. The tubes were hooked up to a machine that delivered the radiation. This was done by physicists, they left the room. I was alone in the room for maybe a half hour while they did the treatments. They then brought me back to the recovery room and waited my turn to have the caths removed, this time under propofol.

During the awake periods, I felt discomfort/pressure in my urinary and prostate area. Occasions jabs of discomfort. about every 5 minutes they were offering pain meds but I did not need any.

After they removed the caths the go home test was to urinate. I waited about 15 minutes in recovery and then was able to pee. A tinge of blood in the urine.

Went home, had a nice dinner. I have two minor issues. My perineum is sore, had to wear loose clothes last night, no tighty whitees And when I urinate there is a burning sensation at the tip of my penis. They gave me an OTC med for the burning. It turns your urine bright orange.

There is one other issue and that is they put e back on Flomax, and it causes insomnia in me. Happened after biopsy and I had hoped it was anxiety. I am going to try taking it in the morning and see if that helps, if not find an alternative.

I feel great this morning. I go back in two weeks for the second and final treatment.

I hope this helps. Denis

All very normal and similar to my experience. The tenderness will subside in a day or two and will be a little worse after your second procedure. Stay away from hard chairs for a few days and ease into a chair, don’t just plop down. I assume the have you a few days of oral steroids that will alleviate any swelling.

I had no restriction on any activities. Went to work the next day and didn’t miss any exercise days.

Denis, thanks for the details. Knowing what to expect takes away a lot of my anxiety. Regarding the Flomax, I spoke with Dr. B at length about my own problems with it. At one time, I had been on it for several months for BPH and found that it caused severe nasal constriction, to the point that I could not move air through my nostrils at all. My solution was to use Afrin. Short term it worked great BUT it is addictive, requiring using more and more each day to relieve the symptoms. I finally had to stop using Flomax, but it took me months after that to wean off the Afrin. Anyway, he said that he had to prescribe Flomax post-procedure, that other medicines would not work. He did say that he would also prescribe oral steroids that may help alleviate the Flomax side effects.

Jim

SD.....happy for you!! I take my Flomax in the morning .....no problem at all....no nasal stuffness ..and does`nt both sleep at night ....no dizzyness either.....works great for me ....good luck!! David

I had some pain in the "tip" during one of my biopsies. The uro said that's "referred pain", that the prostate's nerve impulses can be perceived as being in the tip. Kind of weird. The two are obviously closely linked due to the reproductive function.

That sort of thing is probably part of how acupuncture works.

Denis- Thanks for the update was glad to hear that everything went really well!

Larry

That is why you should walk!!!

Your pioneering spirit is commendable!